Doing the 92 #6: The KC Stadium, Hull

Blog number six in the “Doing the 92” challenge looks at my first Premier League game in the challenge as I visited Hull City’s KC Stadium. This was my first Premier League game in over 10 years with my last game being at Elland Road where I saw Leeds United lose 2-0 to Tottenham Hotspur. I was very much looking forward to this before I got there as this game was a battle to avoid being relegated.

Prior to this game Hull City has won one and drawn one of their last five games while Queens Park Rangers had only won one of their last five games. The other thing I was looking forward to seeing past and future player who could/have represent England. You have Rio Ferdinand and Rob Green who have both represented England in the past and many people online feel that Charlie Austin could represent England in the future.

As I made my way to the stadium, I couldn’t help but realise that if you don’t know where you’re going and you can’t find a sign post directing you to the ground you will get lost. This happened to me. However, I managed to find my way to the ground by following posters for a wrestling show at the building next door to the KC Stadium.

I ended up finding the ground and the first thing I saw was that the away fans were kept separated by a steel fence. I don’t know if they have this fence as a way to keep fans from both teams getting into fights, especially fans of rival teams. As I took my seat in the Ideal Boilers East Stand, I looked up Hull City’s Twitter and found that they had sold out of tickets. This was the first game I attended that had a sell out attendance but when the game started, I could clearly see empty seats. There was even an empty seat next to me. The guy sat next to me on the other side was very quick to notice that I was attending my first Hull City game and wished me luck in completing the 92.

The game started and both sets of fans were vocal from the start with Queens Park Rangers fans being louder in my opinion. Both teams started by keeping the ball in the middle of the pitch with the occasional shot on target. But after 16 minutes Nikica Jelavić gave Hull City the lead with a volley into the back of the net. However, Hull City fans weren’t happy with that as they were more focused on the linesman who they accused as being lazy and useless. This did lead to one fan mimicking the linesman until he got bored and ran away to get food.

After 32 minutes, everything kicked off as both teams were about to get into a massive brawl after Darnell Furlong tackled down someone. He got a yellow card for that tackle. This then lead to Queens Park Rangers captain Joey Barton punching Tom Huddlestone in front of the referee for whatever reason which saw Barton get red carded. In all fairness, I’m not surprised that he got red carded. I would have actually been upset if Barton didn’t get booked.

But that didn’t stop Queens Park Rangers from making the score 1-1 after Charlie Austin headed in the equalising goal. After that goal, both teams decided to “park the bus” for the remainder of the game. I don’t remember how but Bobby Zamora got yellow carded at the 58th minute. QPR’s third yellow card was given to Mauro Zárate at the 75th minute. I should point out that Zárate was only on the pitch about 10 seconds as he came on as a sub for Austin. And the final yellow card of the game went to another QPR player. This time it went to Matthew Phillips at the 80th minute. As the fans next to me started biting their nails looking nervous, someone came to the rescue and won them the game. This person was Dame N’Doye at the 89th minute with a header to which every Hull City fan jumped for joy and hugged anyone that was within arm’s reach. Not a bad way for N’Doye to celebrate his 30th birthday by scoring the winning goal.

As the final whistle blew and fans quickly ran out of the stadium to avoid getting into traffic, or in my case not miss the train, I was already thinking of where to go next in this challenge. I have listed all the games that I will be attending throughout March but if you have any recommendations for what team I should visit in April and May then let me know on Twitter at @DanWhite1993.

Overall, I had a lot of fun at my first Premier League game in 10 years and to fans who complain about ticket prices… yes some teams charge a lot but I only paid £16 for a front row ticket! I think I mentioned something about ticket prices in a previous blog but here is how I feel about ticket prices:

For this challenge, I have a very limited budget when it comes to ticket prices. I usually give myself a budget of about £20, not counting postage, and every time I look up ticket prices, I always find it annoying that some teams insist on charging £30-£60 just to sit in the cheap seats. This is mainly the reason why I’ve been attending games in Leagues 1 and 2 as tickets for their games don’t cost as much.

Some teams like Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United ask for membership cards just so fans can get a cheaper ticket. When you think about it, it’s not cheaper at all as you’re paying whatever the club charges for a membership card plus the ticket meaning that you could be spending up to £100 on a cheap ticket. I’m interested in what you think about ticket prices and how much it costs you to see your favourite team play. Leave your opinions in the comments.

Until next time, I hope you have enjoyed this blog. My next blog will be about my visit to Rochdale who will be taking on Colchester United. This game will see me also doing some fundraising for Prostate Cancer UK prior to the game which I am looking forward to doing as well as helping out a good cause